Acid soils and associated mineral toxicity are a great restriction for crop production, and among the metals, aluminum is considered one of the most important problems in soils with pH £ 5.0. Breeding for aluminum tolerance is considered a useful way to improve important economic plants' performance in acid soils with high concentration of this metal, as those which occur in South Brazil. However, for this, it is necessary to identify aluminum-tolerant genotypes, to understand aluminum phytotoxicity and tolerance mechanisms, and to know genetic control of this tolerance. This paper presents a review of these subjects, with emphasis on aluminum forms present in soils, their effect over the plants, the stage of knowledge on aluminum tolerance mechanisms and their genetic control in different cereal groups.
aluminum tolerance; acid soils; cereals